SSTI Digest

What do turfgrass and grapes have in common? Both are high-volume, high-value crops. And, as field trials by the Pacific Kelp Company are proving, both could also benefit from the nutrients in liquefied kelp extract, a biostimulant product that also could help boost the sales of Alaska kelp with adoption of broader applications. 

Alaska kelp farming got its start in 2017 but remained a minor player in the overall Alaska mariculture economy. In 2022, however, the Alaska kelp industry got a significant boost: Southeast Conference was awarded a $49 million U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) Build Back Better Regional Challenge (BBBRC) grant to grow the kelp and oyster industries in Alaska. 

Around the turn of the century, a sizable number of states began asking a practical question: How well were they positioned to compete in an economy increasingly shaped by science and technology? Innovation indices offered a way to answer this question.

This year's gubernatorial elections will do more than determine who occupies governors' offices across the country. They will help shape how states, administrations, and voters navigate a shifting federal landscape and pursue policies designed to advance state priorities, address emerging challenges, and redefine state-federal relationships.

The Communities of Practice for Building Better Regions and Tech Hubs gathered in Tulsa, Oklahoma in early September for a convening that showcased Tulsa’s work and gave participants a chance to learn from each other during workshops and breakout sessions. Committed to strengthening their regional economies through strategic focus and aligned action fueled by multi-sector partnerships and historic investments from the Economic Development Administration, these communities have adapted the practice of economic development to address national priorities and tackle regional economic challenges. These in-person convenings have become important opportunities for Communities of Practice (CoP) participants to step back from their daily grind and think through strategic and tactical opportunities and challenges with their peers from across the country.  

There have been recurring concerns about the status and approach to federal research spending over the past 18 months. The National Science Foundation (NSF) has begun answering some of the questions raiseed, announcing its new approach to allocating research funding in an open letter on September 10.

The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has awarded more than $30 million to Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) Centers in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Missouri, Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Utah, and Vermont. The selected awardees and their funding amounts are: 

SSTI’s analysis of state revenue outlooks and budgets reveals early warning signs that underscore the importance of expanding investments in TBED initiatives and regional innovation to strengthen state economies, even as states face the prospect of reduced budget flexibility. The states' Fiscal Year (FY) 2028 budget season is rapidly approaching. While most governors will not release their budget proposals until January 2027, and with 36 states possibly electing new governors those spending plans are likely to include multiple or delayed versions; nonetheless, several states, beginning with Colorado, are expected to begin unveiling their proposed spending plans in late October and early November. 

TEDCO recently announced the findings of an independent economic impact study detailing its contributions to Maryland. The 2026 study shows that in fiscal year 2025, TEDCO supported more than $1 billion in statewide economic output, 4,027 jobs and $479 million in labor income—building on a track record that now totals more than $9.9 billion in economic output and 38,000 jobs since inception. 

USDA Rural Development recently announced that the Farmers Innovation Fund has been certified as a Rural Business Investment Company. This designation allows Farm Credit System institutions and others to invest as limited partners. The Farmers Innovation Fund, a unique joint initiative of AgLaunch Holdings Inc. and Ag Ventures Alliance, is guided by farmers’ expertise aiming to bring promising technologies to the market faster, reduce the risk of adopting new innovations, strengthen U.S. agriculture supply chains, and create new opportunities for rural businesses, entrepreneurs, and manufacturers. 

A recently enacted Louisiana law (Senate Bill 374/Act 499) allows the state’s colleges and universities to establish economic development districts without legislative approval. The act authorizes higher education institutions, in coordination with local governments, to create such districts and retain the sales tax revenues generated within them that exceed municipality baseline revenue amounts.

Place-based economic development is back near the center of federal policy, from Opportunity Zones to the CHIPS and Science Act. That renewed attention comes with a familiar problem: decades of enterprise zones, tax incentives, infrastructure investments, and other geographically targeted programs have produced results that are hard to summarize cleanly. In a new NBER working paper, Matthew Freedman and David Neumark ask the better question: not simply whether or not these policies work, but under what conditions they might work, for whom, and why. Their review points to a practical conclusion: policy design matters and targeting a distressed community with development-focused financial incentives is rarely enough on its own.

For the civic leaders of Osceola County, the Great Recession of 2008 made clear that they could not base their economy so heavily on travel and tourism. By the time COVID-19 hit in 2020, they knew the steps they had taken to diversify their economy were the right ones. When the Build Back Better Regional Challenge (BBBRC) opportunity arose in 2021, the county and its partners were well-positioned to operationalize the benefits the grant presented to the region and create a trained workforce for a recently attracted semiconductor industry. How did Osceola County get here? There are potential approaches to emulate by more areas of the county dependent on low-wage sectors like tourism or, for that matter, extraction-focused regions subject to “boom and bust.”